I just threw a bachelorette party for my best friend. She is getting married this Saturday, and I can’t believe it! Without giving away the details of the party, I’ll just say this..I took the party to Medieval Times to drink and be merry!

In other news, I have agreed to do something I never did at Mason..I have agreed to write an article in my companys newsletter.. GASP! I know..me write?!? Who knew!

Lastly but not least..

Conan VS Jay Leno..As you all know, to say I am a fan of Conan is an understatement. In short, I will support Conan in whatever he decides..as long as he stays on tv!

While Fairfax is under a blizzard warning, I thought I would look back to see where I was this time last year.

For starters, being stressed out with finals was an under statement. There’s that extra pressure as a senior, knowing that you really don’t have the time to take the class again. But, I also had a great distraction..I was getting ready to study abroad in Switzerland. Although, today reminds me a lot of Switzerland since there is snow everywhere! But besides that..I had no idea what I was going to be doing after school..but I didn’t really care, I more excited about going abroad. What I did care about was passing all of my finals. That is not to say that I was in danger of not passing my classes, but there is that added pressure that as a senior, you really don’t have the chance to re-take any classes. Needless to say that I passed all of my classes, but still had no idea for what I was going to do after graduation.

Fast forward a year, and how things have changed! I now get up at 4:45 during the week to get to work, that is very different from getting up for my 1:30 classes my last semester.

Something very different from last year is that for the first time, I feel like I can buy my family nice Christmas presents. I am no longer on the college student budget. And even though I am not rolling in money, I have enough that I was able to donate bags of toys and food to people in need this year and buy nice things for my family.

A lot can change in a year, from school to the real world..it’s not quite the college life, but it isn’t bad either!

Last week my company hosted an “Employee Appreciation Dinner” at Bobby Vans in DC (which is an amazing steak house). How cool is that? My company bought everyone dinner, and there was an open bar. That’s not all, but we all got presents too! This year my company gave everyone Bose headphones. Headphones ?? I know that’s what you’re thinking, but these are top of the line headphones and I love them.

This past Saturday was the annual Holiday Party. It was held at the Air and Space Museum in Chantilly. What can I say about that? More amazing food, another open bar, and we had the entire place to ourselves! I brought my roommate (my friend who I met at Freshman Orientation). We had a lot of fun, and even ran into other Mason Alums!

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, and has a great rest of the holiday season!

This past week has been full of training at work, and yes..even computer problems. So don’t think that once you leave Mason you won’t encounter computer problems where ever you work.

On the bright side, it’s almost Thanksgiving, which means..a day off 🙂 But, I will have to say I didn’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to get a great meal. My company held its annual employee appreciation dinner at Bobby Vans in DC on Thursday. And if that wasn’t enough to have an amazing meal..and even an open bar. But the desserts were great, and we all got presents! Can’t go wrong with that. But the real thing I am excited for is our company Holiday Party at the Air and Space Museum in Chantilly. It’s the one event my co-workers say that I must go to. It’s nice to still get free stuff after college.

The other day I found out that one of my fellow Mason Alumni had passed away. Brian Picone, who was 22, was a great person. I had a dance class with him and I got to work with him while I would put in Pride activities into Broadside. I had the honor of putting his first drag experience at the Mason Drag Show on the front page of Broadside. I will always remember when he saw the paper and ran into the office so excited. I think that issue was gone in about 24 hours, one of our fastest issues that hit the stand that year. This is an unfortunate event, but those who knew Brian will always remember his energy and big heart for everyone.